ICELAND
2,277 were international applications that came through WIPO. National applications from foreign applicants went down from 617 to 607, and applications from Icelandic applicants decreased from 689 in 2011 to 667 in 2012. Valid registered trademarks in Iceland at the end of 2012 were 54,381, of which 31,131 were international (Madrid) trademarks and 23,250 national trademarks. Iceland has been a member of the Madrid Protocol since 1997.
Designs
Applications for the registration of designs decreased in 2012. In all, 121 applications were submitted to the Icelandic Patent Offi ce (IPO). T is year, there was a slight increase in applications from foreign applicants, while there was a decrease in applications from Icelandic applicants. Iceland has been a member of the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs since 2004.
Changes to the Trademark Act
In June 2012, the Icelandic parliament passed a bill amending the Trademark Act from 1997. A new invalidation process on the administrative level has been opened; previously invalidation was possible only through the courts. Most oſt en, invalidation is sought due to the non-use of a trademark.
Another notable change is that a trademark cannot be registered if it is confusingly similar to a mark that has been in use in another country, provided that the application is in the same or similar class of goods or services as the foreign mark and the applicant is aware, or should have been aware, of the foreign mark.
Finally, foreign trademark owners are no longer required to use local
representatives before the Icelandic registration authorities. T e changes to the law allow foreign agents to represent trademark owners before the authorities, but they must reside within the EU, European Economic Area (EEA) or the Faroe Islands. However, all communication between representatives and the Icelandic Patent Offi ce must be in Icelandic.
www.worldipreview.com International cooperation
IP rights and the protection of IP are substantially dependent on international cooperation. Iceland is a party to a number of international agreements, including:
• T e Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property; • T e Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement; • T e Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT);
• T e Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs; and
• T e EPC.
Moreover, Iceland, as a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), has adapted Icelandic legislation to the provisions of the TRIPS agreement. Furthermore, the Agreement on the EEA, together with additions, has led to several legislative amendments in Iceland to accord with the directives and regulations of the EU.
Obtaining IP protection in Iceland
Patents protect the technical realisation of an idea, such as equipment and products, as well as methods or applications. Basic requirements for granting a patent for an invention are that it be new, inventive and capable of industrial application.
New: T e invention must be new, not only in Iceland but worldwide. T e invention may not have been publicised in speech, or in writing, before an application for a patent is fi led.
Inventive: T e invention must diff er essentially from prior art, ie, the solution to the problem it resolves may not be obvious to a person skilled in the art.
Capable of industrial application: T e invention must be of practical economic use, ie, it must be possible to manufacture and sell it.
World Intellectual Property Review e-Digest 2013 79
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